Home pints in progress
Eastbound Brewing diners enjoy a beer-friendly meal with a view
There’s no in-house beer yet at the newly opened Eastbound Brewing Co., on Queen St. E., near Broadview Ave.
That’s because you can’t have it all: a roomy, gorgeous eatery with 80 seats, an open kitchen and a 14-metre bar made of live edge walnut.
Then, just steps from this “live cooking show” of a restaurant, a sunken brewery with a100-barrel capacity. (This space was built in the 1930s as a theatre, so it’s got height.)
“We just wanted to have a feeling that you just stumbled into this working space,” says one of the owners, Adam Stiles. “We want guests to see the process.” To that end, one row of counter seats overlooks the brew operations below.
But the so-called pit, while large enough to hold five fermenters, offers a tight fit. Every hose and connec- tor was tough to get in place — it’s taken time to install all the equipment so it’s ready to brew.
“We wanted to have it born here,” says David Lee, another partner, and the brewer. While it was tempting to put together a batch of Eastbound somewhere else to coincide with launch, they insisted on waiting and selling outside beers until their homebrew is ready in the next couple of months.
Stiles was working as a meteorologist for CityNews — and still is — when he first started talking with his friend Peter Moscone, manager at the Senator, about the potential in the craft beer market. (Stiles hosts a segment called City Brews, so he knows beer.)
The idea stuck and soon they were branching out. They got Dave Watson, who worked at Cott Beverages, interested.
The trio connected with Lee, who had trained in Chicago and had worked for brands such as Mill Street Brewery and Grand River Brewing. He was working for Sessions Craft Canning, which offers a mobile canning service, and was keen to launch his own label.
It was about two-and-a-half years ago that the four started talking about the venture seriously. A bonus: Lee’s wife, Tara, is a trained chef who was working at Bar Hop Brewco, and could step in to create a quality menu with homemade ingredients.
Last August, they found this space. The 3,200-square-foot storefront wasn’t quite as big as they wanted, but the height was there and so was the location (beside the under-construction Broadview Hotel). The open-air basement was ideal, although cramped. After a lot of measuring, they figured a way to jigsaw puzzle the equipment in.
“We just wanted to have a feeling that you just stumbled into this working space.”
ADAM STILES EASTBOUND BREWING CO. CO-OWNER
“It was a pretty big undertaking,” Lee says of the changes to the space, which had been a furniture store in its most recent incarnation. Plumbing and ventilation had to go in, while the brew shop floor had to be evened out and dropped a little.
The work that began last summer wrapped up this spring and the space opened on April 23.
The two Daves and Tara have been working in the space full time while the other two partners are keeping their day jobs.
The neighbourhood has been supportive, immediately latching on to Tara’s menu, which features unique but beer-complementing dishes such as octopus tostados and a cod sandwich.
For now, the place is selling local craft brews from the likes of Side Launch and Bench Brewing Company, plus Ontario ciders and wines. When the homebrew is done, don’t expect just one signature house flavour.
“We’re going to do a wide range of brews,” says Dave Lee. “We’re going to explore all the styles.”
The keg lines will run direct from the brewery up to the bar, which has an ample12 taps (some will always be reserved for outside brands). The team also plans to sell beer in 945-milliletre cans called crowlers.
It’s all just unique enough, and in an emerging part of town, to stay relevant in the busy craft beer pub market in the city.
And when the first Eastbound batches are ready, the neighbourhood is likely to agree it was worth the wait.